This invention relates generally to sewage or other waste material treatment facilities, and more particularly, to an improved, self-contained, transportable, treatment plant or apparatus having a reduced number of chambers therein yet constructed in a manner to provide improved sewage treatment in a most efficient manner.
Self-contained, transportable sewage treatment plants or apparatus have been available for some time and typically are constructed of cast concrete, fabricated in suitable molds designed to form a unitary construction having the required number of chambers therein. The migration or passage of fluids and solids through the various chambers, e.g., aeration and clarifier chambers, usually relies upon the force of gravity and the flotation forces of aeration devices present in the apparatus. Such apparatus is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,195,727 and 3,805,957. One of the most important aspects, however of sewage treatment apparatus is its capacity to maximize the oxidation or biodegration of various materials in the waste stream which typically will have components of many different chemical compositions having different specific gravities, densities, sedimentation rates, surface ionic or surface tension characteristics, and other properties which affect, e.g., flocculation or flotation tendencies. A principal factor in achieving this maximum treatment is the capacity of the apparatus to provide adequate agitation or turbulence to the waste material, particularly during the aeration treatment, while facilitating recycling of flock and low density or float material which have not received a satisfactory degree of aeration. This simultaneous need for maximum settling-out of floc and isolation of said float materials at the top of the clarifier chamber has led to structures such as presented in the aforesaid patents. Such structure, however, fails to maximize the efficiency of these operations as will become apparent in comparison with the present invention described herein.
Objects therefore of the present invention are: to provide waste treatment apparatus which promotes the maximization of aeration efficiency in an aeration chamber while providing for adequate settling of floc and flotation of low density materials in a clarifier chamber for recycle to the aeration chambers; to provide in a preferred embodiment, such apparatus which can accommodate unusually high air volume flow and turbulence in the aerator chamber while maintaining effective floc settling and low density material flotation in the clarifier chamber; and to provide such apparatus in highly simplified structural form which lends itself to economical manufacture, installation, use, and maintenance.
These and other objects hereinafter becoming evident have been attained in accordance with the present invention one embodiment of which comprises the structural combinations and features of wasted material treatment apparatus comprising wall and floor means providing an aeration chamber having a material inlet, and a clarifier chamber having a material outlet, said chambers being separated by internal wall means having its lower edge spaced from said floor means to provide transfer port means interconnecting said chambers, skimmer conduit means in an upper portion of said internal wall means interconnecting said chambers, said port means and said conduit means being adapted to transfer floc and float material (low density material) respectively from said clarifier chamber to said aeration chamber, a material flow directing system adapted to promote the movement of said floc and float material to the aeration chamber for further aeration, said system comprising a first deflector surface in said aeration chamber in line with said inlet and comprising a first deflection surface slanting downwardly generally toward said internal wall means and floor means, the lower edge of said surface lying adjacent an outlet of said skimmer conduit means, a second deflector surface on said internal wall means adjacent the lower edge thereof and slanting generally toward said floor means in a generally opposite direction to said first deflector surface, and diffuser means mounted in said aeration chamber and having its outlet positioned adjacent said floor means and wall means positioned generally opposite said internal wall means, said deflector surfaces and diffuser means in cooperation with the contiguous wall means and the incoming material flow path constituting a substantially closed circulation loop providing diminished pressure zones in said aeration chamber adjacent said transfer port and said outlet of said skimmer conduit means.
In another embodiment of the present invention the waste material treatment apparatus comprises floor, end, and side wall means defining a container for receiving, treating, and discharging said material, internal wall means within said container dividing the same into substantially isolated aeration and clarifier chambers, said floor means to provide in cooperation with said floor means a material transfer port between said chambers, diffuser means in said aeration chamber near the top thereof, and material outlet means in communication with said clarifier chamber near the top thereof, and motion attenuating means mounted in said clarifier chamber intermediate said transfer port and said outlet means for reducing the motion of material in said clarifier chamber and enhancing thereby the settling of floc therefrom for return to said aeration chamber through said port means.
By means of the present invention, an improved system is provided which is capable of adequately processing a wide range of input flows, for example from about 500 to about 1500 or more gallons per day, and which includes but a single aeration chamber adjacent a single communicating clarifier chamber.
Bacteriological decomposition or oxidation of material located in the aeration chamber is vastly enhanced by the specific disposition of a deflector surface in the path of incoming material, and a diffuser assembly, which assist in producing a generally circular, movement of the material contained therein. An internal wall or baffle separates the single aeration chamber from the single clarifier chamber with the only normal communication therebetween comprising a transfer port formed adjacent the bottom of this baffle. A unique construction of the lowermost portion of this internal wall cooperates with the substantially downward flow of material adjacent thereto to provide a fluid flow which allows treated liquid from the aeration chamber to pass into the adjacent clarifier chamber, while concurrently promoting the return of any settled material in the clarifier chamber to the aeration chamber.
With the above and other objects in view, which will more readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the invention consists of a novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed, with reference being made to the attached drawing.